Pokemon: The Next Generation

What’s that? I’ve been slacking on the Pokemon posts? Yeah it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything Pokemon, Portal, Star Wars or Christina Hendricks it seems. WHAT HAS UNREALITY BECOME?

Just kidding, we’re still awesome. I’ve just been waiting for the right piece, and this reboot of Pokemon is it.

All of us who were fans of the games as kids have grown up, but unfortunately the game hasn’t grown up with us. It’s still aimed at the age we USED to be, and has done nothing to attract us now that we’re older.

A new anime show with grown up leads could go a long way to help out with that issue. Here artist NTDevont shows a new style of animation that could suit a grown-up show, and hints that the content might be more mature. I mean, Totodile is waving a thong around.

About The Author

Paul

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

9 Comments

This doesn’t really seem any more “grown up” to me. If anything, it looks more suited to tween/high schoolers.

Maybe this in and of itself is a sign of me getting older, but I’m getting tired of both the “anime/emo”(FFXIII, this pic, etc..) AND the “gritty realism” treatment (OOOOH, ANOTHER BALD SPACE MARINE!!! YAY!!).

I understand that a large part of why older games had more simplistic character designs was due to technical limitations, but as I get older, I miss the how stupidly simple Link’s original design was. It was less of character or costume and more of an icon. Nowadays, their is so much struggle to either make characters “unique” with too much detailing, or not unique at all to make sure they pull in the right demographic.

It all ends up being a murky mess with nothing standing out.

TL;DR – Not my cup of tea. As a 28 year old myself, I’d much prefer an even simpler deconstructed version of Pokemon, less “real world-ish”. It’s also been a long day at work and it feels good to rant about something.

It’s funny how many people don’t recognize just how complex the game can be. Granted the features that make the game so complex are hidden and have to be researched on your own, but it appeals to both casual gamers and those seeking to get more than face value out of it. There is EV training, breeding, innate abilities, IV spreads, natures, special EV training items and contracting Pokérus and much more. Forming a team with your favourite special sweeper or physical wall, it’s a very strategic meta. Some of these elements have existed from the very beginning back in RBY days. But, as previously stated, these elements are explicitly explained or shown through normal game play and only those who have looked into it, or stumbled across it by accident would know of.